The word for this 4th Sunday of Advent is “joy”. What a perfect word to describe the essence of Christmas!
According to Webster a truism is, “a statement that’s
obviously true and says nothing new or interesting.” Here’s an example: “You
get what you pay for.”
When you read the Bible you find one of the greatest truisms:
The only thing that stands between you and joy is you!
Eight years ago a friend and mentor of mine wrote a book
that we’ve used in some Groves over the years. In it he tells of the time he
was speaking at a national gathering of his denomination (PCA) where he said
some controversial things. After his talk he was confronted by a serious young
man in a three-piece-suit with a concerned look on his face. Here’s his
description of their encounter.
“Dr. Brown,” he said, “what you
said today grieved my heart!”
“Grieved your heart?” I responded. “There
was nothing big enough here to grieve your heart. We’re one of the smallest
denominations in America, and I’m a peon. Find something bigger to grieve your
heart!”
“You don’t want to hear,” he said
quietly and with a godly patience, “what a fellow pastor says?”
I thought about it for a moment and
said, “No, not really, but if you want to say something and be honest about it,
I’ll listen…at least awhile.”
“I think,” he said, his voice
rising for the first time (really spiritual people don’t shout, but he was
close) “that you are arrogant, rude, and prideful.”
Do you know what I said? I said: “Bingo!
You have read me well, but I’m better than I was. Your heart would have been
even more grieved five years ago, and it would be even more grieved if you knew
the whole truth about me now.”
We ended up talking for over an
hour, and he eventually loosened his tie. All things considered, it was a
rather honest and good discussion, but that’s not the point. The point is how I
felt when I said, “Bingo!” Once I said that, I had an incredibly wonderful
feeling of freedom and joy.
Generally, I would have defended
myself. (I’m quite good at doing that.) I would have engaged him in a debate
and “eaten his lunch”. (I have a glib tongue and know how to use it.) I may
have worked to belittle him and his judgmental spirit. (Any preacher can do
that well.) I didn’t. I just told him that he had read me well.
Do you know what I experienced with
that one word, “Bingo!”? I felt free and powerful. In fact, it felt so good I’ve
decided to do it more. I call it the “Bingo Retort.”
You’re
wrong!
Bingo! I’ve been wrong at least 50
percent of the time.
You’re
selfish.
Bingo! My mother said the same
thing, and my wife knows it too.
You’re
not living up to your potential.
Bingo! If it’s okay with you, I’m
not going to live up to my potential awhile longer.
You’re
not fit to be a Christian.
Bingo! That’s why Christ died for
me.
You’re
a preacher? You’re certainly not spiritually qualified to be a preacher.
Bingo! I’ve often said the same
thing to God.
How
can you be a Christian and say/do that?
Bingo! I sometimes wonder that
myself.
I am follically challenged (“bald”
for the slower among us). It didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t just look in the
mirror one morning to discover that my hair was missing. It was incremental and
slow.
I did what every bald guy tried to
do at the beginning…hide the baldness. I moved hair around to those places
where growth was sparse. But trying to hide baldness is sort of like self-righteousness.
One doesn’t even know it or admit it or think that anybody else notices it
until a good wind destroys the ruse and everybody sees the truth. It starts
with lowering the part of one’s hair and eventually it comes to growing the
hair long where it will grow and brushing it to cover the places where it won’t.
There were even times when I refused to take speaking engagements—I can’t
believe I’m telling you this!—because I wouldn’t have time to “fix” my hair and
cover my baldness.
It was my atheist friend who messed
up the gig. “Can I ask you a question?” he said.
“Of course.”
“You’re a preacher?”
“You know I am.”
“How the h___ can you be a preacher
who is into honesty and stuff like that and be that dishonest with your hair?
Frankly, it’s not only dishonest, it looks silly. Don’t you know that everybody
knows it and that they laugh behind your back?
I don’t remember what I said to
him, but I do remember what I did that evening. I stood in the mirror and gave
up. I cut off the long hairs I used to cover my bald head with and brushed what
was left straight back. I was kind of surprised. I didn’t look handsome
exactly, but there was something to be said for joining the ranks of Yul
Brynner, Patrick Stewart, Telly Savalas, and Michael Jordan. And I slept better
that night, better than I had in a very long time. I was even able to sleep
late because I didn’t have to get up so early to “fix” my hair.
“Free at last! Thank God Almighty!
Free at last!”
That experience was not dissimilar
to the experience I had when I finally accepted the true grace of God given to
me in Jesus Christ…You see, self-righteousness isn’t the only thing that’s
addictive. Repentance is too!
That’s what we see in our primary text this week: Luke 1:
26-46 and our secondary one: Philippians 2:5-11. Both Mary and Paul prove that,
for the Christian, the only thing that stands between you and joy is you.
In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Anticipating Joy” you
may wish to consider the following:
1. What similarities are there in the circumstances of Mary and
Paul in these texts?
2. To whom is joy attributed in Luke chapter one?
3. What similarities are there between these three?
4. We are going to show that joy, for Mary, is a 4-step
process. Can you identify each of them?
5. Why does Mary go to see Elizabeth after receiving the news
the angel reports in verses 28-37?
6. What do we see in Elizabeth that propels Mary’s joy?
7. What do we see in Mary’s song of praise that indicates her
knowledge of God’s character?
8. How similar is Paul’s response in Roman custody?
9. How true is our suggested truism?
10. How contingent is our joy on the finished work of Christ?
See you Sunday!
